Our harvest

Well, summer is here.  It has not yet arrived on the calendar, but that has not stopped Mother Nature.  It is now pretty consistently 90ish degrees and humid.  I just really dislike summer in Houston and that is probably why I leave for most of the summer.  I cannot stand how hot it gets here.

I stop going to parks unless it is at 8am.  It is too hot.  The kids eventually don't even ask to go outside anymore.  Our favorite activity in the summer is swimming.  I am so glad we don't have our own pool.  I would never do any housework if we did.  But, we do have two neighborhood pools within walking distance (we never do because it is too hot)!

We started our summer "all we do is go to the pool" this weekend.  I am so glad my kiddos love to swim and never tire of going to the pool.

Only Jonah needs to be wrapped in a towel when it is 90 degrees!

Emma's friends were at the pool which was great!

When we finally went home, Samuel and Drew discovered our plants were going gang busters with food.  I love, love, love fresh foods from the garden.  I am so happy to have these guys in my salads for weeks to come!

Blueberries for our fruit salads

Homegrown cucumber and cherry tomatoes

The large tomatoes are still getting ripe.  We also have lots of herbs.  We would have asparagus if Yuengling would stop eating it.  I don't know why Drew didn't plant lettuce.  Regardless, fresh veggies are awesome and we are always so sad to eat the store stuff at the end of the summer!

The boys play baseball

Samuel and Jonah play baseball!  I am such a slacker blogger recently that I have not posted about their new activity.  What is really sad is the season started on April 20!  So, one month later here is a little recap of their baseball exploits.

Jonah is a gymnast, but I have always tried to get him to try another sport.  I just think he is too young to be a one sport guy.  He actually wanted to play basketball this past winter, but that is pretty impossible with his gymnastics schedule.  Thankfully, baseball season worked and he wanted to try it. 

Samuel played soccer for two seasons and was pretty much over it.  He decided t-ball would be his new thing and was excited Jonah wanted to play as well.  Because the boys are older they were placed on the I-9 baseball coach pitch team instead of t-ball.  At first that was intimidating to Samuel and he wanted to quit.  He was okay with coach pitch when he learned he could still hit of the "t" if he missed 6 coach pitches.  The person throwing the pitches is Drew.  He is one of the coaches and the boys love that!

Jonah is probably one of the oldest, if not the oldest, on the team.  He can hit the coach pitches, throw well, and he generally knows what he is doing in the field.  Samuel uses the "t" about half the time, can throw the ball well, and needs more guidance in the field.  Overall, I think they are really having fun.  Samuel is definitely happier playing baseball than soccer.  Jonah would definitely still pick the gym, but he goes and has fun.

Love Samuel in this picture

Samuel playing first base

Samuel taking a big swing

Jonah and coach Daddy

Jonah running to first

Each week a team player receives a medal for a different sportsmanship quality.  Last week Samuel earned the medal for determination.  He does play with lots of effort and he had two big coach pitch hits.  Samuel lives to win the medal and he was so very proud.  His face in this picture is just wonderful!

Yesterday Jonah won the medal for humility.  This is hilarious to me because Jonah is not humble.  He loves to boast about and/or speak very confidently about his abilities.  But, on the baseball field I will say he is pretty quiet.  He was pleased!

While the boys play the girls spectate!  We are good cheerleaders or at least good at sitting in our chairs.

Samuels' ELCP Spotlight event

Last night was Samuel's last Spotlight singalong event at the ELCP....insert huge sigh from the mom!  Samuel has one week left of Preschool and then off the Kindergarten he goes....insert another huge sigh from the mom!

Back to last night...it was so fun.  For maybe the first time, Samuel sang and did all the motions. The songs were so cute and so were all the kids.  It was just a "how can you not smile for 40 straight minutes" kind of evening. 

 This is just a little sampling of one of the songs.  Samuel was so earnest and serious and I was so in love with watching him sing!

Happy Mother's Day

Today was such a great day.  I started my day with a great run.  Drew made breakfast for me and everyone.  I was able to spend time with my Mom before she left this afternoon! 

I talked to my other Mom on the phone!  My sister Kristin is laboring to be a first time mom!  I spent time with each of my kiddos individually and together.  They gave me sweet little presents which I totally forgot to photograph...a lovely bracelet and necklace, a notebook, a homemade picture frame, a homemade painted flower arrangement, and cards.  Our day ended with an awesome meal that Mom made for us before she left!  Despite all that wonderfulness, the best part of today was just being home!  I missed Emma, Jonah, Samuel, and Elena's smiling faces all last week.  I was so happy to be with them today!

Last week on our trip moms are Mums so my kiddos took great pleasure in calling me "mum" today!

Love these sweet faces so much!!  My favorite thing is being their mom/mum!

Kindergarten registration

Yikes....I registered Samuel for Kindergarten this evening.  He was so excited to go to Haude....to be a big boy!  Samuel cannot wait to be more "equal" with Jonah.  To be at the same school, to have the same routine, to ride the bus, to eat in the cafeteria, and no naps are Samuel's current desires.  He is very ready for this.

All the parents and future Kindergarteners met in the cafeteria.  The kids went to the front to listen to the current Kinder teaches talk about school.  The parents had the pleasure of filling out the same forms that will be sent home again on the first day of school.  Craziest system ever! 

After the little talk the kids went off with their assigned teacher for a story, coloring activity, classroom visit, and snack.  Samuel was a shamrock so he went with Ms. McCoy.  As he left the cafeteria he never looked at me to wave or anything.  It made my heart sad and happy at the same time.  He is ready!

Samuel had a fun evening.  He was not shy answering questions.  He enjoyed being in the class.  When I asked him what the teachers discussed, he could tell me everything.  I know he felt so grown up!

Samuel is definitely ready for August 26th!

On a little side note, here is a picture of Jonah and his reusable man.  He and Drew made it for his Earth Day project.  Jonah had to give a little speech about why recycling is good for the Earth.  His little talk is just too cute and very Jonah! 

A post of pictures

I realized today that I have taken a lot of pictures this week with the exception of Jonah.  Because he and Emma are at school, their faces are in way fewer pictures.  I dislike that very much, but they must go to school!

Two weeks ago Emma tripped at the gym and hurt her ankle.  It was swollen and painful.  There was no bruising so I was convinced it was just a sprain.  It did not seem to be improving and her coaches really wanted Emma's ankle to be examined.  So, we went on Sunday and guess what?  Emma has a sprained ankle that is taking a long time to heal!  Luckily there is still plenty of strength, core, and none running exercises at gymnastics. 

She is getting really bored of no tumbling, but she is excited about her new leo.

Yesterday I took Samuel and Elena to the park.  I wanted to stay for 30 minutes.  70 minutes later we were leaving with Samuel all covered in sand.  Ugh!  I love watching my kids play at the park.  They are always so happy.  Running down a hill or rolling down it made them even happier!

Tons of playground equipment and Samuel digs in the dirt with a stick

I know I have said it before, but Elena really likes to run.  This is her running outfit and she likes to pretend run on my treadmill.  I need to help her with her form!

There you go.  Not one single picture of Jonah....such a shame so maybe tomorrow.

I will also add that I had the best run on Monday.  I ran 8 miles with some fun in those miles.  I had a 1 mile w/u, 2.5 miles at 8:00 pace, 1 mile easy, 2.5 miles at 8:00 pace, and a 1 mile c/d.  It was a challenge to get back to 8:00 paces the second time, but I did it.  I like the change of pace and the challenge of this run.  I have been running more 8:00 miles and it is getting easier to dial into that pace.  That is exciting for me.   My next big run at that pace is on Saturday!  I can't wait!!

Today Mammy came.  The kids are excited!  Me too!

I hope everyone is having a good week!

Jonah's State Meet

Yesterday was Jonah's last official gymnastics meet of the season...Texas South State meet in Alvin, Texas.  Alvin is not really near our house.  I took a wrong turn and we had to sit in traffic twice because of accidents...not so fun!  We made it just on time.  Good thing I was the only one aware of our time issue and Jonah was clueless!

Jonah had high hopes for himself at this meet and I wish I could say he was a happy dude when it was over, but there were tears.  As he talked to his coach, I watched Jonah try to be so brave.  He was trying so hard to be a big boy and hold back the tears.  It just was not working and my heart was broken.

Waiting for his team to be announced

Jonah faded as the meet progressed and he had a really low score on high bar (8.5).  That did not help his overall average and thus no all around medal.  He did medal on pommel horse...a bronze for his score of 9.4.  I must say this is just too ironic because Jonah could not do his routine in December for anything.  He has improved his score by two full points since then and I am so proud of him.

Getting his bronze state medal and looking very unhappy

His scores were:

10.1 on rings and still no medal.  He was quite sad about this
9.9 on floor and again sadness
9.3 on vault.  He really wanted a vault medal.
9.2 on parallel bars
9.4 on pommel horse
8.5 on high bar

His AA was 56.4.  His AA in December was 51.1.  That is a remarkable improvement to me for four months of work.  I am proud of Jonah.  He is officially finished competing as a level four gymnast.  Next December he will be one of the youngest level five competitors at the meets.  I know he will be great!

A little happier at lunch